Why Boise Is Bucking the National Trend of Slowing Home Prices
Posted by Lisa Kohl on Wednesday, October 10th, 2018 at 4:52pm
If you follow the news, you have no doubt read the headlines about the national housing market slowing in recent months.
Once blistering hot real estate markets from Seattle “Inventory up as Seattle-area market cool down continues”, to Denver “Major cold front slams Denver housing market”, to California’s Bay Area “Inventory, price reductions on the rise” seem to have lost a bit of their luster.
Homes that would have once been snapped up within a few hours of listing are sitting on the market for days or gasp even weeks.
A new report from property data analytics company CoreLogic says U.S. home prices “increased year over year by 5.5 percent in August 2018” the slowest growth in two years.
In Ada County, the median price for a single-family home grew 15.3 percent to $316,344 from a year prior. Home prices in Boise rose 16.24 percent to just under the $300,000 mark.
The median time a house remained on the market declined to 13 days from 18 across Ada County. While Boise homes sold in 11 days, down from 14 the previous year.
Prices in September declined from last month’s record high prices, but that is typical for this time of year.
Prices in neighboring Canyon County jumped a staggering 26.35 percent to just under $230,000, with half of all homes in county selling in 8 days. The quickest on record for this time of year.
To be clear, while the headlines are dramatic, home prices across the country and especially in the west are up high single to double digits year over year.
With more homes on the market taking longer to sell, there’s little doubt that real estate markets across the country are seeing a slowdown in price appreciation.
Yet in the Boise area, home price gains continue to accelerate. Over the last twelve months, the typical house price rose 16 percent, the same as the previous two years combined. All the while available home for sale have declined for the 49th month in a row.
The Bargain That's Boise
Priced out of San Francisco and San Jose, people moved to Seattle, Portland, and Denver driving up home prices along the way. Comprised of recent college grads, tech workers and retirees, a third wave of migration is moving to Boise, Nashville and other areas offering the same high quality of life at lower prices.
While local real estate values have more than doubled since the last housing bubble, the fact is, by Western U.S. standards, Boise home prices are relatively cheap.
In areas where $600,000 doesn’t buy a teardown and earning $117,000 is considered low income, $300,000 for a newer home in a good neighborhood seems like a bargain.
For families fleeing high taxes and tight housing markets, Boise is a breath of fresh air.
Boise is on the radar because of our home prices not in spite of them.
Due to our strong economy and the reasons mentioned above, we have traditionally trended a year or two behind the bigger cities.
It may not be reflected in the numbers yet, but Boise is not immune to the factors affecting the rest of the country.
Boise area home prices are up $65,000 over the last two years and mortgage rates are the highest they have been since the local housing market began its recovery in 2011.
We saw a big jump in homes sales this winter and early spring as home buyers tried to get ahead of higher interest rates. Since then we have seen a drop-off in demand.
A year ago we were in an insane market; now we are in a quintessential seller’s market.
Move-in ready homes priced correctly are still selling quickly. However, the bidding wars of 2016-2017 are a thing of the past.
While local home prices haven’t hit a peak yet, the days of double-digit appreciation are most likely behind us.
Neighborhoods by the Numbers
The Boise Bench (1.01 months), West Boise (1.13 months) and Southwest Boise (1.18 months) have the smallest supply of homes for sale. Neighborhoods with the most inventory can be found in Southeast Meridian (3.85 months), Southwest Meridian (3.48 months) and Eagle (2.42 months).
Boise Real Estate Market
The average price per square foot for Boise is $177, an increase of 14.19 percent compared to the same time last year. Boise housing market summary:
- Median list price - $299,900 (up 19.78%)
- Median sold price - $299,900 (up 19.96%)
- Total home sales - 390 (down from 495)
- Median days on market - 11 days (down 3 days)
- Available homes for sale - 1.48 months supply (down from 1.71)
- 30-year mortgage rates - 4.63% (up from 3.81%)
Housing Markets by Area
Median sales price:
- Ada County - $316,344
- Eagle - $459,785
- Garden City - $229,159
- Kuna - $260,000
- Meridian - $329,495
- Star - $327,200
- Canyon County - $229,900
- Caldwell - $208,196
- Middleton - $268,510
- Nampa - $217,000
Lisa Kohl
Treasure Valley Realtor Lisa Kohl loves what she does. It shows in her attitude, in her work, and in the many reviews written by her past clients. Lisa carefully studies the local housing market to give her clients the edge when buying or selling a home in Idaho. We Know Boise is a full-service real estate team that combines our LOCAL expertise with traditional know-how to create exceptional results for each of our clients.
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Information in this market report was obtained from the Intermountain MLS (IMLS) on October 9th, 2018. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed. City data refers to single-family homes on less than one acre, while county data includes homesites of all sizes. Current inventory is calculated on a twelve-month rolling average. Combining existing homes for sale with new construction is the best way to gauge current home prices and Boise housing market trends. New house prices are much more volatile and tend to exaggerate the numbers, particularly on a month to month basis.
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